When I think back to my time studying abroad in Italy, a lot of mouthwatering food comes to mind - including rice balls. Though a lot of the time they contained ham or some other kind of meat, here and there I was able to find vegetarian ones. They were gooey, rich, and delicious, and I'm not sure that I've eaten them since my time in Sicily. That's why when I came across risotto cakes in my newest cookbook, Essential Vegetarian, I knew I had to try the recipe. Rice balls are typically deep fried. While they taste scrumptious, anything submerged in a bath of oil isn't exactly waistline friendly. That's why I tweaked the recipe and used less oil. When I decided to make them last night for dinner, I failed to realize that this recipe takes a good amount of prep time. After cooking the ... [Read More]
sun dried tomatoes
Roasted-Vegetable Soup with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
Last weekend was rainy, chilly, and low key - the perfect scenario to try making a new soup. My hubby recently gave me the Williams-Sonoma Soup cookbook, and I was itching to make a recipe from it. This is what I wound up making: The pesto adds a flavorful punch to this vitamin-packed soup. As usual, I altered the ingredient list a bit based on personal preference - i.e. I'm allergic to eggplant so I obviously nixed that; I used vegetable broth instead of chicken; I didn't have the leeks on hand that it called for. I started off with a ton of veggies.... ...which I chopped up, tossed in a baking dish and roasted until tender: From there, some pureeing, pulsing, and mixing was involved, but all in all, this soup was somewhat simple to make! I paired the soup with whole wheat pita ... [Read More]